Although fans and media might have been ready to declare the Chargers a bust following their 0-2 start, the team never felt like those two last-second losses were a sign of things to come.

Riddled by injuries in the offseason and training camp, San Diego was not close to being at full strength for its first two contests. Still, the club almost won both games, losing by a combined three points. But the way we hear it, the Chargers are nearly back to health across the board, and they are ready to assume their role atop the AFC.

Possibly the most overlooked of the Bolts’ injuries in the early-going were the ones on their offensive line. Two-time Pro Bowl OLT Marcus McNeill missed the first two games with an injured neck, leaving the team without a cornerstone lineman. As expected, his return in Week Three was felt immediately by the entire offense, especially QB Philip Rivers, who was not sacked once in a win over the Jets.

The other missing link on the O-line has been C Nick Hardwick, who has been recovering from offseason foot surgery. Hardwick has made major strides lately and could be back for Sunday’s game at Oakland. That would mean, for the first time this season, the offensive line would be fully intact.

We also hear that RB LaDainian Tomlinson, who has been dealing with a sore big toe for the past couple weeks, is feeling the best he has in a while. His injured toe has limited him severely, allowing him only to run straight ahead without cutting. Now, though, he should return to being the explosive, shifty L.T. that we’ve become so used to seeing.

On the defensive side of the ball, CB Antonio Cromartie is 100 percent after experiencing hip pain early on. It showed in his performance against the Jets, when he picked off QB Brett Favre twice on his way to winning AFC Defensive Player of the Week. And although LB Shawne Merriman won’t be back this season, NT Jamal Williams is holding up well despite his bad knees.

All told, with the team in good health, a complete turnaround from their early-season form would not be a shock to anyone within the Chargers' organization.

That is true, but not material to our status. We absolutely have to sweep the division and beat Denver in the rematch. We have two games to make up in the division. Denver appears capable enough of sweeping everyone but us. We need to sweep, Denver needs to loose at least one game in the non division schedule and we need to pile up the score and the stats on every team we play to take any and all tie breakers. This presupposes we have a superior record to Denver, since every game they win gives them a pad, every game they loose makes their edge thinner and the same crap is true of us. Our position, other than a wild card, is, in fact more tenuous than last year, even if we go 14-2.